AT&T to New York and San Francisco: We’re Working on It

The head of AT&T’s wireless unit said Wednesday that the carrier is working to improve its network for iPhone and other smart-phone subscribers in New York and San Francisco.

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AT&T’s Ralph de la Vega

Manhattan and San Francisco, particularly the city’s financial district, “are performing at levels below our standards,” Ralph de la Vega, chief executive of AT&T Mobility, said at an investors conference.

Those two cities see especially high smart-phone penetration, which has put pressure on AT&T’s data network. The company expects to see gradual improvements in New York and plans to replace some microcells in San Francisco, he said.

“This is going to get fixed,” Mr. de la Vega said. “In both of those markets, I am very confident that you’re going to see significant progress.”

With about 3% of smart-phone customers driving 40% of data traffic, AT&T is considering incentives to keep those subscribers from hampering the experience for everyone else, he said. “You can rest assured that we’re very sure we can address it in a way that’s consistent with net-neutrality and FCC regulations.”

Many customers don’t know how much bandwidth they’re consuming, Mr. de la Vega added. When AT&T conducted a broadband test, customers often reduced their data use. Longer-term, he said, a pricing scheme based on usage is likely, though it will be determined by industry competition and regulatory guidelines.

Mr. de la Vega made several company announcements, including a network upgrade in three cities and that AT&T expects to sign its two millionth U-verse subscriber today. He also said AT&T will provide connectivity for the Interead Cooler, an e-reader that will compete with Amazon’s Kindle and Sony’s Reader.

UPDATE: An AT&T spokesman added: “Ralph de la Vega made significant news today in saying that, based on independent drive testing, we have 98.68 percent nationwide voice retainability, which means that the difference between AT&T and the industry leader is less than 2/10 of a percentage point on this important metric. That translates to a difference of less than 2 calls out of a thousand.”